Thieves snatch Tom Petty guitars

Tom Petty performs with a Rickenbacker guitar as part of the Austin City Limits Music Festival in 2006.

Story highlights

Police are investigating the theft of five guitars

Three of them were vintage guitars from the 1960s

The band's tour begins this week

Tom Petty was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2002

For classic rocker Tom Petty the waiting is the hardest part after five guitars were stolen from a soundstage where the Heartbreakers were rehearsing for their upcoming U.S. tour.

A $7,500 reward is being offered for the return of the guitars, including a vintage 1967 Rickenbacker, a 1967 Epiphone and a 1965 Gibson.

"Sometimes people make mistakes, but we'd like these back," Petty said on his Twitter account Friday. "no questions asked."

Police in Culver City, California, are investigating the theft.

Both as a solo artist and leader of the Heartbreakers, Petty is one of America's top recording artists, selling more than 57 million albums, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

Among his hits are "Refugee," "American Girl," "Free Fallin'" and "The Waiting."